


Request 7 (Jinhai)

by Yoselin



Series: L&L Tumblr Prompts [8]
Category: Love & Legends (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 17:31:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13956555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yoselin/pseuds/Yoselin
Summary: Originally posted to Tumblr.“I will keep you safe.”Warnings for torture and blood.





	Request 7 (Jinhai)

Warnings for blood and torture. 

My blood spills out into the floor before me and I wretch again. My entire body is aching and I can see stars dance across my vision. Everything in me is burning and my vomit comes out bloody. It isn’t a pretty sight.   
As I heave and heave unto the floor before me, I hear a tsk and a displeased grunt.   
“Is that really the most you can take?” Magnus directs the question at me with a patronizing scowl. He sheathes his sword back into its scabbard and crosses his arms before his armor.   
I don’t answer him back. Instead, my shaking arm wipes at the blood on my mouth and I press myself against the wall of my cell. Despite his attempts to provoke me, I won’t fall into his game.   
Next to Magnus, Jinhai snorts. The sound echoes against the dungeon and makes me flinch. I clench my teeth and dig my nails into my palms until my knuckles turn white.   
“She’s about to pass out, look at her,” Jinhai nods at me.   
I meet his gaze with the feistiest glare I can muster but it has no effect. Despite how much I hate to admit it, it is true. My body is exhausted and I am seconds away from spilling into a heap.   
“Piss off,” I hiss out. My voice comes out broken and gargled from the blood still in the back of my throat. I clear it until I cough up another round of blood and bile.   
Magnus sends me a disgusted look and turns away from me. His armor clanks against the concrete and he nods at Jinhai.   
“She’s weak by now, isn’t she? I give her another few days before she either goes insane or collapses from exhaustion. What say you?”   
“Three days,” Jinhai replies. His eyes scan every inch of me with amusement.   
I flip him off. In my weakened state, it’s the best that I can do. Of course, it has no effect. There’s no anger or insult at my display, just cold indifference.   
“The Queen ordered us to take care of her. I reckon she wants her dead,” Magnus voices before turning back to me, “you’ve been a bitter disappointment, girl. We thought you would have information to trade for your life, but you’ve proven useless.”  
I clench my teeth and say nothing. He’s baiting again, I can tell he wants an excuse to continue the torture. If I piss him off, he’ll get his wish.   
And I’ll die from exhaustion sooner. I can’t handle another round of torture tonight. I’ve already been hurt too badly this morning. So, despite how much I hate Magnus’ smug face, I keep my mouth shut.   
“I told you she’d have nothing to offer. This girl may have fought alongside the false Lord and Retainers, but she has nothing to offer other than amusement. What should we do about her? I enjoy hearing her scream, but she will slowly become unable to entertain me for longer,” Jinhai asks.   
I sink to my knees and dig my nails into my arms. My entire body is shaking and hearing them debate my fate isn’t helping.   
I should project confidence, project a tough attitude in the face of their cruelty, yet my mind is too tired to comply. It is all I can take to just sit here on my knees and continue to breathe. I am entirely at their mercy-  
And they know it.   
Magnus hardly considers Jinhai’s question. He begins to leave and approaches the cell door. His armor clinks against the cold floors and he scoffs.   
“The Queen has grown bored with her. She’s of no use and a worthless pawn is sacrificed in a game of a chess. See what information you can gather today, and I’ll take care of her tomorrow.”  
‘Take care of her’.  
The words ring hollow across my skull and I feel sick again. My form trembles and I bite down on my tongue until blood fills my mouth.   
I should be relieved to hear that I will die tomorrow, relieved after enduring so much, yet the prospect of death is much more terrifying than anything I’ve endure before.   
Jinhai hums something in response to Magnus’ words, eyes already seizing me and finding me worthless, and Magnus fully disappears from view. I hear the door clang shut moments later and now only Jinhai’s breathing can be heard from the dungeon.   
The silence is deafening and I fully sink to the ground.   
My arms wrap around myself and I glare down at the bloodied tiles.   
I will die tomorrow according to them. I will finally be rid of the pain and torture-  
Yet why am I so afraid?  
Why am I so weak in the face of cruelty?  
Saerys, Reiner, August, Iseul, Altea, they’d all have something witty to fire back. They’d fight until their last breath and they wouldn’t take it lying down...  
So why am I so different? Why do I feel like crying?  
The tears fall slowly at first and then rapidly. Pretty soon I am holding my breath to keep from heaving and am openly weeping. It’s been years since I’ve cried this hard, not since my first break up as a teen, and it’s terrifying how weak I’ve become.   
I wipe at my nose-  
And Jinhai laughs. The sound is as cold as the frigid air surrounding us. It scrapes the back of his throat and slams against the walls of the cell.   
His hands grip the bars between us and he leans forward until his lips are a breath away from my form. There’s no room in the cramped room for me to get away. I am as far away from him as possible yet his breath still tickles my cheek.   
“You really are weak, aren’t you? Crying is a pathetic thing to do. What do you have to gain from tears? Hm?” His cold fingers brush my cheek and I move away.   
“Don’t touch me,” I hiss it with as much venom as possible yet the words barely ring above a whisper.   
Jinhai ignores me and scans me from head to toe. His eyes devour me, archive everything I am, then meet my gaze.   
“Pity, I miss the way you used to fight us. You had so much spirit then, made me excited to come down here. There’s nothing to be gained from you, so now I guess Magnus can come and finish you once and for all. A small mercy that you don’t deserve.”  
He moves away and spins on his heel.   
I rise to my feet and lean against the bars. The cold metal bites my fingers and I press my face until it hurts. His form begins to grow smaller, and I have trouble breathing.   
Death looms so near. I can hear it’s cold breath against me, feel its bony fingers around my throat, and taste its putrid taste in my mouth-  
And panic overtakes me.   
I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.   
I’m not like my friends. I don’t have the courage to die with my head up. In Chicago I lived a normal life, I don’t have the experience of battle like they do. My flesh is weak and my spirit broken.   
Death is terrifying and something I will do anything to avoid.   
Anything.   
Before I can even begin to think, I scream.   
“Don’t leave!”  
The sound echoes off the walls and Jinhai flinches. It startles me too and I bite my bruised lip. My hands shake and i wait.   
Slowly, he turns around. His face is closely guarded, almost bored, and he waits expectantly.   
I take a deep breath and press on.   
“What do you want?” I hiss it out at him and move closer. He doesn’t answer so I am forced to continue. “I don’t know what you want to know, so what else do you want? Money? Obedience? What?”  
My voice sounds desperate, unhinged, broken, and it reflects me. It is mortifying to beg, yet I am reduced to this. I am not like my friends, I am a coward.   
Jinhai moves back to his original spot and his cold fingers press against my jaw. He grunts at the back of his throat and tilts my head up. I let him even though his touch sickens me.   
“Are you really bargaining? Crying is pathetic but begging is truly a coward’s bid. Can’t you accept death with open arms and die a martyr to the false Lord?” He laughs again, the sound even worse than last time, and drops his hand.   
“I don’t want to die,” I reply back. It’s barely above a whisper but his keen Elven hearing picks it up.   
“You will die eventually, so why not now? Why not die a hero here and now? Wolfson will avenge you in battle and you will have a heroic burial when your body is nailed to his castle doors as a warning. You have the chance to leave like a martyr,” he taunts.   
My lip wavers at the mental image of my body nailed like a crucifix on Reiner’s castle. Would the others recognize me? I’m nothing like the friend they had then. I am a shell of something I used to be. Would they even know who I was?  
“I don’t want to die,” I repeat it. I reach out past the cell and grip at Jinhai’s clothing as hard as I can. It’s not very hard, my strength left long ago, and he easily pries my fingers off with minimal effort.   
He almost looks annoyed with my pleas, but his cold hands don’t release mine.   
“So the little lamb isn’t ready for slaughter. Alright, then, I will humor you. What can you trade with me that will make me want to barter with the Queen?” He scans me from head to toe again.   
I shake. “How much do you want?”   
“I have more wealth than I know what to do with already. Something else?”  
His fingers trace patterns into my wrist. I resist the urge to yank my hand back. “I can clean, cook.”  
“We already have palace maids,” he replies.   
My hand is brought to his face and he sniffs at it. There’s blood and dirt all over it yet he seems not to mind. If anything, it pleases him. I feel like vomiting.   
“Then what do you want?”  
The phrase sounds unhinged and desperate. I no longer care. My fear is suffocating me and I don’t want to die.   
This man before me holds my fate in his hands and I am willing to give him anything in order to preserve it.   
Jinhai gives a harsh yank on my arm and I am slammed into the bars. My teeth knock against the cell and I feel blood fill my mouth. I let out a squeak of pain as his hands move to my hair. It’s matted and dirty yet he lifts a strand to his nose and takes in the scent.   
“You no longer have much anymore, do you? You are nothing but skin and bones, yet that can be fixed. I can feed you and let you heal. With some rest and time you will be restored to what you were when we took you from that battle. I guess you are not entirely helpless. The question is, are you worth the trouble? What are you willing to trade for your life, my little lamb?”   
I can sense the deeper meaning in the question. Sense it in the way his gaze devours me and strips me bare. His excitement is palpable and disgusting.   
I want to throw up, want to move from his grasp-  
But that mental image of my body nailed to the front of Reiner’s castle fills me again and I am more terrified of that prospect than of the one standing before me.   
Squeezing my eyes shut, I let go.   
My strength leaves me and my resolve shatters like glass. The fight is over and I am willing to sign over my fate.   
Life with this thing before me is as terrible as the life in this cell-  
Yet it is still life.   
Death is so final, so unknown, while sharing a bed with the devil is nothing but a nightmare I can tough out.   
“Anything,” I breathe out.   
The hidden meaning in my answer is picked up and Jinhai snorts. His hands move to the back of my head and press me closer. I tense and let him angle my head up. His breath brushes against my throat near my pulse.   
“Is that your final offer? You would be willing to trade yourself for your life? Are you sure you would not prefer the fate of a martyr?”  
He’s bursting with excitement then, I can feel it in his pulse. His lips press to my neck just above my own heartbeat and I resist the urge to move away.   
I did this to myself. I chose this bed and I will now literarily lie in it. For all of eternity.   
“Do we have a deal?” I mumble out.   
Jinhai draws back slowly letting his hands brush my sides. I clench my firsts at my sides in order to prevent myself from jerking back.   
I’ve already signed my soul away to him, signed myself away, so there’s no use in resisting.   
Perhaps dying is what anyone else would do- what a martyr would do-but I am a coward.   
“We do, my little lamb. **I’m going to keep you safe** , and you’re going to keep me company for as long as I deem you worthy. I will go inform Magnus. The Queen owes me a reward for helping capture the coastal domain, and I suppose you will do. We will have fun together, my little lamb, I will be a good master.”  
He sweeps me with another lustful stare before moving away.   
I hold my breath as he disappears and the cell door clangs shut.   
Once he is gone, the full force of what I have just done hits me.   
I wretch and vomit into the floor. Tears stream down my face rapidly and I slam against the wall. Hysteria bubbles in my throat and I press my hands against my eyes.   
I’ve signed away my soul, my freedom-  
My body.   
I’ve signed it all away for life. Not living life but surviving life. And isn’t survival better than dying?  
I sink to my knees and bite on my knuckles.   
If my friends ever find out what I’ve done, and they will, they will be as disgusted with me as I feel. I’ve done something that none of them would ever even consider-  
Yet I will survive.   
I am no hero or martyr.  
I am a coward who would rather become a whore than a corpse.   
But, at least I will survive.   
That thought alone is what keeps me going.   
I may have done something shameful, cowardly, low, but at least I will live long enough to feel ashamed.   
And for now, trapped in my new prison of flesh and bones that now belong to someone else, that is all I can ask for.


End file.
